By Kathy Chouteau
Mercy Housing and the Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC) are calling out to professional artists in the nine Bay Area counties respond to a request for qualifications (RFQ) for art commissions at the Hacienda Heights residential development at 1300 Roosevelt Ave. in Richmond.
Located near the Richmond BART Station, Hacienda Heights is being rehabilitated by Mercy Housing and CHDC—in collaboration with the Richmond Housing Authority—to reinvigorate the building and nearby area. Ultimately, the building will be used to provide low-income housing and social services. According to Rick Sprague of Mercy Housing, construction on the project is estimated to begin in April 2021, with an anticipated July 2022 completion.
The RFQ is for two site-specific art commissions that are part of the overall project and which will include a large perimeter fence and a sizeable exterior wall. According to the RFQ, the fence project is open to all qualifying artists and media appropriate to placement along the fencing. Re: the exterior wall, the selected artwork will be a bas relief fabricated out of fiber-reinforced polymer; artists who work in two-or-three-dimension are encouraged to apply. While the artist will receive a design fee, others will complete that project’s fabrication and installation.
“The goals of the selected artworks will be to enhance the neighborhood, celebrate the residents, complement the building architecture and speak to the cultural diversity of the surrounding community,” per Mercy Housing and CDHC in the RFQ.
The current total budget is in the range of $350,000, and will encompass all related costs of design, insurance, materials, fabrication, and installation for both locations. Funding allocation will be determined during Phase II of the selection process and a portion of the budget will be used for purchasing artworks by Richmond artists for the lobby space.
To view the RFQ, click here. Applications and/or inquiries should be emailed to Lynn Baer, public art advisor, at [email protected] by the Fri., Nov. 6, 2020 deadline. Installation of the artworks will occur in fall 2022 and preference will be given to Richmond artists.
